Emami embraces “never ending improvement” with a focus on expanding its global footprint

Recently, Emami beat a number of multinational suitors vying for the privilege to adopt the iconic German brand Creme21 into their brand portfolio with a successful acquisition.

Emami’s Director Prashant Goenka shares insights about the company’s successful acquisition process and its global aspirations.

What was the vision behind the acquisition of Creme21?

We treaded beyond our comfort zone to be fearless and take larger strides whilst aligned to our corporate goals.

The race to acquire Creme21 was not easy with many multinational suitors vying for it. And why if you ask, Creme21 is an iconic German bright orange colored brand with a high equity in the skincare industry. It has been wooing consumers on the shelf for 50 years.

With Creme21’s strength in a strong future pipeline and loyal Arab and Asian consumer base, this mix was a growth driver. The acquisition was in line with the company’s strategy for pursuing growth through the inorganic route.

Importantly, it was my longstanding pledge to champion inclusion and diversity and adapt to international culture. We learnt, strived and thrived working with the passionate German team while acquiring Creme21.

At Emami, we focused on synergising the best practices in distribution, marketing and supply chain to bring in quicker growth. The teams invested energies in harmonizing advanced German R&D with the sharp strategic capabilities of Emami R&D.

I believe it’s always the small wins that pave the path to big wins. It is not every day that we have an Indian FMCG acquire iconic German or international brands. Since then, it has been a moment of orange glory.

At the time of the acquisition, majority of the brand’s business was contributed by the MENA region.
Which are the newer geographies where Creme21 has been launched and what were the challenges faced?

Emami has been conducting business in the MENA region for the past 15-plus years. From a small store in Deira’s hustling market, our brands are now market leaders in the men’s skincare, pain management category, Cooling Hair Oil, considered as India’s number one hairfall expert.

We have a loyal Asian consumer base who form the growing expat population in MENA. Thus, to accelerate our reach into Arab households, all our acquisition efforts focused on international brands with higher equity amongst the Arab consumers.

In order to capture significant synergies, we’ve consolidated our Emami and Creme21 businesses in many countries. This brought in efficiencies, strengthened distribution and steady availability.

We invested in brand building and new launches thereby reaching out to new consumers and farther geographies. Since its acquisition, we have relaunched Creme21 in the Middle East and introduced the brand in India, USA, South East Asia.

Whilst there are accolades, it is sure to have been built upon challenges which one masters to slay during the journey. The curvilinear relationship between industry similarity and post-acquisition performance was attenuated by the pandemic. Now, we are advancing the entire consumer business with modern integrated approaches around channel and consumers.

Creme21 skincare products are known to be cruelty free without paraben, silicon and micro-plastics. Is there a growing consumer awareness and does this affect your business?

Indeed, consumers are not just aware about clean beauty and skincare products; it is a table-stake. Consumers are advocating the removal of harsh chemicals and recommending environment conscious brands.

The knowledge sharing, online, around clean products has been astounding. I must add, researches we conducted emphasised consumers are evolved and prudent. They are very well aware about harsh ingredients to be eliminated which is good for the skin and for brands which have an intent towards good for us and our planet.

Creme21 has simply answered these consumer calls by revamping our product range thereby emphasising safer, cruelty free, banned ingredient free products that meet the clean green beauty standards.

Interestingly, at Emami, we are on an endeavour to launch and invest in new, modern-age business, natural and herbal brands which embrace the motto: “Good for me and good for us”.

Among Emami’s overall international sales, the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) region is significant. Tell us about your global distribution strength in modern trade.

Emami has presence in around 60 countries across the globe. MENAP has been the fulcrum of international growth.

Unlike India, where we have mastered the perfect mix of both direct and indirect distribution; we have set our strategies clear to partner with the best distributor in each country internationally.

Our distributors and teams help in selecting and ensuring availability in all leading modern trade chains. We are constantly monitoring and learning purchase trends, identifying timely actionable insights which is helping us.

We have been investing in forecasting category evolution to quantify the impact of our sales and adapt our inventory to consumer behaviour.

This healthy mix of stitching external and internal measures is allowing us to bring in efficiencies and ploughing back our earnings on our partners and loyal consumers.

Walk us through the challenges that Emami faced during the pandemic and how did your leadership help the international business overcome the obstacles.

Logistical delays, families hit hard emotionally and economically led to a time which no one had fathomed.

We are an organisation who are constantly innovating and challenging the status quo. Thankfully, the world is moving on a positive note with greater acceptance and spirit.

In the words of Emami founders RS Agarwal and RS Goenka: “The disruption is temporary; the resilience is enduring”; thus we expanded our focus and investments in alternatives to traditional M&A, including stakes, joint ventures, partnerships, and corporate venture capital.

We initiated Project WoW (War on Waste) to moderate costs with the help of a global management consultancy. To enhance sustainability and logistics efficiency, Emami optimised routes, reducing its carbon footprint.

I came across a beautiful line which I keep reminding myself daily: “Don’t limit your challenges. Challenge your limits. We must embrace constant and never ending improvement”.